Bounty Hunter "Dog" to return to the air

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Celebrity bounty hunter Duane "Dog"
Chapman is set to return to television after his reality TV
show was pulled from the air three months ago in a controversy
over his use of a racial slur, cable channel A&E said on
Tuesday.

A&E took the popular show, "Dog the Bounty Hunter," off its
schedule last November after a private phone call in which
Chapman, an ex-con, used an offensive term to describe his son
Tucker's black girlfriend hit the Internet.

It transpired that Tucker sold the tape of the conversation
to The National Enquirer, for a reported $15,000.

A teary Chapman apologized repeatedly on television and to
the African American community after the tape was made public
and promised to make amends.

He acknowledged using the epithet "nigger" on a heated call
with his son but admitting he was probably interfering in his
son's life and he still loved his son.

An A&E spokesman said the network had decided to start
production again of "Dog The Bounty Hunter" but no airdate has
yet been scheduled.

"Over the last few months, Duane "Dog" Chapman has taken
and continues to take the appropriate steps in reaching out to
several African American organizations in an effort to make
amends for his private comments to his son which were released
publicly," said a statement from the network.

"Since the premise of "Dog The Bounty Hunter" is about
second chances - we have decided to give him one."

Honolulu-based Chapman, 55, who has 12 children and has
been married five times, rose to fame after his 2003 tracking
and capture of Max Factor heir and serial rapist Andrew Luster
in Mexico.
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